The Long Goodbye
by ShadowSwan
Summary: One-shot. Two weeks is an awfully long time; it deserves a nice, long goodbye. Callian fluff. S3ish.


**Disclaimer: Lie To Me isn't mine - never has been, and unfortunately, probably never will be.**

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The Long Goodbye

"You have all the keys, yeah?"

"Yes Cal. I even know which locks they correspond to."

"And you know all the security codes," he continued, ignoring her sarcasm for once. "Off by heart."

"I recite them in my sleep."

"You better bloody not do," he growled, but a grin spread across his face at the same time.

"Everything will be fine," Gillian reassured him for the fifth time, placing her hands on his shoulders. "I won't let the building collapse, I won't let the company blow up, I'll even try not to let Loker into your office."

"If I get one whiff..." he warned, then pulled his colleague into a tight hug.

"I hope everything goes okay," Gillian said warmly, returning the hug.

"Please look after-"

"Cal, enough. The Lightman Group will still be standing after two weeks of your absence."

Gillian rolled her eyes at his still slightly worried expression. She took care of everything in their joint business - accounts, wages, profits, even hiring and firing employees when necessary. Cal wasn't interested in any of this - he wanted the lies, the truth and all of the facial expressions in between, and that was it.

And yet here he was, acting as though Gillian was just an intern left to run things while he was disappearing off to Los Angeles to help with a major lawsuit between some pretty hefty production companies. It was going to bring in a stack of money for the Group, something they always needed, but it came at a price.

Cal would be gone for a fortnight.

Gillian would be flying solo for a fortnight.

Gillian didn't mind those things though. Cal had been away on business trips before, been away to conferences when Gillian had finally put her foot down and demand he make an appearance because they needed the money. He'd even, back in the early days, disappeared away to book signings, though these were less and less frequent.

The part Gillian did dislike was Cal's company on this trip - his ex wife, Zoe.

Zoe had been the one originally called upon to take this case, and had, very reluctantly, asked for Cal's help. His science, as she so often sneered at, could prove pretty useful, and Zoe needed to get this right - there was a serious paycheck at the end of it.

Gillian was less than happy with the arrangement though. She knew Cal and Zoe were officially divorced, but she also knew when left alone with each other, they had a tendency to slip back into their old ways, re discover their old feelings, and then Cal was in an odd mood for weeks after. This time, they were taking Emily with them, but she hadn't stopped anything in the past.

It wasn't really the mood Cal would be in on his return that was bothering Gillian this time though. A month or so ago, her and Cal had been in his office way past midnight trying to solve a case with a deadline - the building was empty, the alcohol had been flowing, and they'd both said a few things they shouldn't have done. Cal had always been a terrible flirt, but that night, Gillian had given in a little and teased him back.

The days following had surprised her though. Rather than being filled with awkward moments and embarrassing memories of things discussed, Cal had kept up the flirting, and Gillian had found herself continuing to respond. More than a few times, things had nearly got very heated in his office, before they both remembered themselves.

So far, nothing had actually happened, but Gillian now found herself half hoping something might. She'd always been so careful never to let her and Cal's complicated relationship extend beyond friendship, but at the moment, she was wondering whether it would really be such a bad thing if it did. It'd been a while now since she'd divorced Alec and she'd enjoyed the past few weeks. She was more than a bit curious to see what would happen if things went further.

But now Cal was disappearing with his ex wife, and it wouldn't even surprise Gillian if during that two weeks, Cal and Zoe made up for lost time and arrived back as a couple again. It was probably not as likely as Gillian thought, but feelings of jealousy were creeping into her mind, blurring her thoughts.

"Gill," Cal repeated, bringing her out of her daze suddenly.

"Sorry," she said, blinking.

"Who were you thinking of then?" he asked, waggling his eyebrows and smiling at her, his eyes daring her to tell him.

"No one you need to worry about," she replied coolly, rolling her eyes at his face but unable to help the small smile on her own face.

"Cal, we need to get going. We're going to miss the flight."

Cal turned around to face the very impatient looking mother of his child. His eyes flickered to Emily standing next to her, a smirk on her face already at Zoe's chiding.

They'd been stood outside the company building for a good fifteen minutes now, suitcases piled in their hired car, while Cal had been doing triple checks with Gillian. Their original plan had been to go straight from Cal's house, where Zoe had stayed the night, to the airport, but Cal had insisted they stop off to see Gillian once more. Zoe had been irritated to say the least, but Emily had been secretly pleased. She was letting herself believe her dad wanted to see his business partner for romantic reasons, not purely business ones.

Little did she know that she wasn't too far off the mark.

Cal turned back to Gillian, taking in her features and memorising them ready for the next two weeks when he wouldn't be able to see her.

"Go on," Gillian encouraged, not wanting him to go but appreciating that he had to leave at some point. "The sooner you leave, the sooner you get back."

"See you in two weeks love," he said, pulling her into another hug, this one even tighter.

"Call me when you get there," she said, enjoying the feel of his arms around her too much. "And don't forget me amongst all the beautiful women of California."

"Will do, but I can't promise anything on that second point," he joked, finally breaking apart and walking over to his family, Zoe looking relieved.

Gillian watched as Cal ruffled Emily's hair before opening the door for her to slide into the backseat. He closed the door on her as Zoe got into the passenger side, and Cal briefly looked back at Gillian still stood in the entrance, smiling at him. God he was going to miss her. Two weeks had never seemed so long as it did now.

Cal Lightman was a man who acted on instinct. He always had done, and he always would. Sometimes it caused him grief, and sometimes it was a success. He had a feeling his next action would be a mixture of the two.

Bounding back over to his partner in crime, he pressed his lips to hers as forcefully as he could before she could say a word, smiling as he felt Gillian return his kiss eagerly and lovingly at the same time. It was quick, and ended much too soon for the two of them - the plane wasn't going to wait all day after all - but it left them both a little breathless and caused Gillian's cheeks to flush in the most endearing way.

"Two weeks," he whispered, kissing her again on the cheek and running back to the car.

"Behave," Gillian called after him, her voice a little higher than usual.

Cal grinned as he slid into the driver's seat and revved the engines. Beside him, Zoe was rolling her eyes and huffing loudly, but as he checked his mirror, he noticed his daughter absolutely beaming behind him. He gave her a quick wink and then sped off, giving Gillian one last wave which she returned with a smile as big as Emily's.

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**A/N: Okay so I don't usually write one-shots or just bits of fluff but this scene just popped into my head and I had to write it and get it out there. I hope everyone likes it! Obviously I have other stories that really should be updated before this is posted but I couldn't resist, and new chapters for my other stories are on their way soon. Thank you for reading, and I'd really appreciate some feedback :)**


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